Residents Squabble Over Chicken Wire at Camps
By Bridget Scrimenti, The Sun, Lowell, Mass.
Jan. 25–WESTFORD — Resident Bill Harman put up chicken wire around trees on the East Boston Camps property to protect them from beavers.
Resident Jim Gozzo took the chicken wire down.
“The wire is not supposed to be on the property and isn’t authorized to be there,” Gozzo said.
At Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, selectmen voted unanimously to request approval from the Westford Land Preservation Foundation to put the chicken wire back up.
The board has custody and control of the East Boston Camps, while the Westford Land Preservation Foundation monitors the conservation restriction on the property.
Harman said he and other members of the Land Stewardship Committee were following the advice of the town’s wildlife consultant Sue Morse, who recommended the chicken wire.
“I can’t imagine why a person would remove those fences we put up,” Harman said.
Gozzo called the chicken wire “chintzy” and said the mesh wire should never be placed against the bark of a tree.
“They treated it like their own little private environmental experiment,” Gozzo said.
Harman said he put 17 wire fences around serviceberry trees, which beavers like to feast on.
He said all of the fences were taken down, while some of the trees were destroyed.
Gozzo said he removed only two fences around oak trees.
Selectmen asked Town Manager Steve Ledoux to publicize the town’s policy for residents who have initiatives for town-owned land, specifically land with a conservation restriction.
The policy will be posted on the town’s Web site and at the kiosk at the East Boston Camps property.
Bridget Scriment’s e-mail is bscrimenti@lowellsun.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sun, Lowell, Mass.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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